Tags
books, Destiny, Emlyn Chand, Farsighted, Fate, fiction, Kung Fu Panda 2, Oedipus, paranormal YA, Sophocles, theater, young adult
Oedipus, Farsighted, and Kung Fu Panda 2. What do they have in common? In each, a character brings about their own Fate by acting to avoid it.
Oedipus
Oedipus learns of a prophesy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. What he doesn’t know, is that he’s adopted. He runs away from home, trying to keep the prophesy from coming true. Thinking he is away from his parents, he stabs a stranger on the road and marries an older woman, thinking he has won. As it turns out, the stranger was his father and woman, his mother. By running away from the people he thought were his parents, he brought about the prophesy trying to avoid it.
This post includes spoilers for Kung Fu Panda 2 but none for Farsighted.
Farsighted
While the ending is more relevant to this point, I’ll use an example from the beginning. In chapter three, Alex has not learned he is having premonitions. He reacts to what he perceives as bullying by sticking his cane out into the isle and tripping the bully. Since Alex had seen a premonition, the bully reacts to Alex tripping him, by bullying him. At the end of the book, the character’s attempts to stop something is what causes it.
Read the related chapter 3 excerpt here.
Kung Fu Panda 2
The evil peacock is told he will be defeated by a warrior of black and white. He becomes obsessed with killing pandas; even when he could have won. At the end of the movie, the ships have passed through the city canals with nothing to stop them from sailing out and conquering China. Po stands on an inconsequential swell of land. Chance are, if the ships had tried to sail around him, he would have been unable to stop all of them. Instead, they fire cannon balls at him and he deflects them. After the first few, he is able to aim them back at the ships, sinking them with their own weapons. Their firing on him caused their defeat.
While I forgive Alex for being a zealous teenager, and understand Kung Fu Panda is a kid’s movie, I want to shake Oedipus and tell him he’s an idiot. I argued this point with my philosophy in Greek literature professor, but if you’re really trying not to kill your dad and marry your mom, don’t go stabbing people and don’t marry anyone older than you. Period. That is what bothers me about the Greek system of Fate being inescapable.
Are there any other works where you notice this theme?
Ermilia 
This seems like a fun place to share the opening paragraphs to Twists of Fate.
“Fate isn’t something I believe in. Things happen for reasons, but I don’t think those reasons are ever predetermined. If life had a blueprint and you couldn’t change its outcome, it wouldn’t be worth living. Yet all of us find our cup of life garnished with experiences that suggest intervention by a clever and talented artist with a purposeful and sometimes very powerful message. Even those of us who hold the Artist responsible for all creation are teased into beliefs of superstition.
“We hasten to embrace the concepts of fate, destiny, kismet or the more practical karma which redefines these as if Newton’s laws of motion applied to the movement of consciousness. It comes from a simple recognition that there is no such thing as coincidence. We think we see the artist’s hand. I like to believe if those manifested destinies are truly created by hands other than my own, their creator is as interested in their random and unexpected outcome as I am.”
Oh I love it! Who is the author? I want to add it to my GoodReads list.
Anne Schilde. 🙂 It’s chapter 13 of Webster’s Kiss.
Is it a completed work? You’re not a GoodReads author; if you’ve published already, you really should consider signing up. It’s where I keep track of what I want to read next 😀
It’s not published. I finished it, but it needs work. It’s too long and there are two problems with the story line.
Have you found an editor yet? ’cause I can recommend one who helps with length and story-line.
No not yet.
Karin Cox was our first editor. We got a manuscript analysis (as opposed to an edit) and she helped with pace, characters, plot, development, etc. Here’s her website: http://www.editorandauthor.com/
Thanks! I’ll check it out!
Oh great, you ruined the ending of KFP2 for me!
M
I’m sad no one else is commenting on this, so here is a counterpoint to my own character…
I’ve thrown coins into a wishing well (they’re not good for much else). I’ve blown out the candles on my birthday cake. I’ve pinched my eyes shut tight after a shooting star. What made me do those things? What did I believe in that made those into rational acts?
Am I alone? Right now, a gambler is blowing on a pair of dice. An intelligent adult just stepped over a crack in the sidewalk. Wooden surfaces are desperately being sought to be knocked upon. And our literature is overflowing with characters, from Oedipus to Flower Anne, who can’t seem to avoid the inevitable.
Are we just silly? Or do we really believe that there is some fate that we hope can be averted? I’m pretty sure Teddy still keeps the monsters away.
I grew up believing in Santa Claus. I took a letter from the Tooth Fairy to Show & Tell. We’re encouraged to believe myths and superstitions and to hold onto them until we can’t possibly hold on anymore. Why? Because it reinforces our understanding of fate in a tangible way, that’s why.
“We marry our fathers.”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Don’t we say things like this, because we believe them? I think we do.
Sounds like something for Picture it & Write! ❤
I'm not sure how Santa and the Tooth Fairy reinforces our belief in fate even though it does encourage our belief in fantasy and the unexplained. I remember the first time I realized there was no Santa because my mom took me to sit on his lap too many times and he couldn't remember what I wanted.
It is silly, and a little innocent, but is that bad? Isn't it fun to believe in something? Some people believe in aliens, others calories that sew your clothes a little tighter in the middle of the night. Bageebers that leave your body when someone startles you.
I can't wait for you to be published Anne!
Aw thank you. 🙂
I don’t know if Santa has anything to do with fate at all, but if I was alone in a room with Santa, TF, Fate and $50… I’d be $50 richer.
I believe in believing. Yay, Polar Express! I believe silly and innocent are good things that make life worth living. And really the world does too and that’s what makes writing so much fun!
I’ve heard it a million times and never once personified Bageebers. If that isn’t a children’s story it SO needs to be!
I actually haven’t seen Polar Express but I might remember reading the book when I was really little. Bageebers would make a good children’s story! I want to name my next puppy Bageebers; for some reason that word just amuses me. XD
I’m amused. I thanked the Bageebers in my Liebster Blog post. 🙂
Muy buenas estas analogías. Realmente interesantes 🙂
Saludos!
Gracias por dejar un comentario! 😀
– Ermisenda